Digital thermometers and Tradition

For twenty points on our daily pop quiz, when you do think the common thermometer (that is, the Hg form) came into common use?

Also, there are many, relatively accurate, approximate methods for estimating temperature. The oldest methods have been in use for cooking and food processing for.....probably before the advent of writing.

That's exactly what I told myself when I started to drink Japanese greens but since then I realized that perfection is something that goes one step further each time it seems I get one step closer to it.

I can brew sencha w/o the newer tools of the trade including a digital thermometer as I did yesterday while at a family picnic, but generally I simply prefer to use them. I enjoy using such digital and modern devices as a scale, thermometer, and timer (which I set to count up versus count down since I do NOT like the beeping).

These enhance my enjoyment of the whole process and enable a sensing person such as me who lacks intuitive traits to brew superb tea each time, and allows me to quantitativeley alter the brew to taste and mood.

What is important is, they are "right" for me, enhancing versus detracting the tea experience.

But brew as you like, like as you brew! So, find what is right for you and do not suffer from false guilt. They are modern, yes, but I fail to see how this makes them wrong.

That's exactly what I told myself when I started to drink Japanese greens but since then I realized that perfection is something that goes one step further each time it seems I get one step closer to it.

Rainy-Day wrote:What I meant is reaching the same results as I do with thermometer and timer, without.

I am sure it is possible to get the same results but not all the time. If you improve your brewing skills you may maximize the right hits and minimize the misses (and the degree of the misses)

Sometime I check by curiosity to see if reach the temperature I want when I use the "teacup transfer method" ; most of the time it is exact and even when it differs it is a matter of a couple of degrees.

I never tried to brew without using a digital timer. What method of counting the seconds do you use?

What about a digital scale ? I never use one (I don't have one) so I guess that even if use a digital thermometer and timer my brewing method still lacks precision.

EDITED: I guess that to be precise while using modern instruments you should use a thermometer,a timer and a scale. I read more about people using a thermometer and a timer and less about a scale (more about teaspoon and heaping teaspoon). I have no idea if their importance is equal.

Rainy-Day wrote:What I meant is reaching the same results as I do with thermometer and timer, without.

I am sure it is possible to get the same results but not all the time. If you improve your brewing skills you may maximize the right hits and minimize the misses (and the degree of the misses)

Sometime I check by curiosity to see if reach the temperature I want when I use the "teacup transfer method" ; most of the time it is exact and even when it differs it is a matter of a couple of degrees.

I never tried to brew without using a digital timer. What method of counting the seconds do you use?

What about a digital scale ? I never use one (I don't have one) so I guess that even if use a digital thermometer and timer my brewing method still lacks precision.

EDITED: I guess that to be precise while using modern instruments you should use a thermometer,a timer and a scale. I read more about people using a thermometer and a timer and less about a scale (more about teaspoon and heaping teaspoon). I have no idea if their importance is equal.

I don't mean getting exact temperature or time, but making tea that tastes as good. A few degrees and a few seconds off are not a problem. I have a scale but I never use it, it's a very small jewelry scale and it's only suitable for teas like sencha or some darjeelings that you can fit in the scale's bowl.

I don't have any method for counting seconds and I think that's not necessary. If you pay attention to the passage of time, you can get close enough to make tea that will taste just as good. It's a skill and like any other skill, it needs time and practice.

I have had gyokuro prepared at a Japanese fireplace, with traditional devices, with no use of modern aids, for aesthetic purposes, the result was very good, but the man did not measure time with a watch, nor did he use a thermometer, he said that the water should be as hot as the forehead of a man who has fever, he put his hand above the houhin and felt it. At home I use a thermometer, a scale, a watch, I brew each and every session of tea to my certain standards, but this does not let me experiment unwillingly, only when I am determined to it. With gyokuro I really need to measure, but with chinese teas I do not measure, this glass method really needs no measuring.

* The only reason I use a thermometer is to get an exact, objective reading so that I can communicate with others, online, about what brewing temperature I use. In the practical sense I never actually use the thermometer when brewing tea, I just look at the bubbles in the bottom of the pot I typically use to heat water for tea. You don't need a thermometer for brewing tea, it's only really needed for communicating brewing temperature with others.

* There are many ways to observe temperature in the physical world. There are the bubbles forming in the pot...but even, if you want to go outdoors, there is a range of temperatures (maybe about 10-30 degrees) which is pretty relevant in winter time, within which you can estimate the temperature to within 1-2 degree accuracy by looking at the degree to which rhododendron leaves curl. My mother taught me this. Other broadleaf evergreens curl similarly.

I'm sure there are other ways of assessing temperature besides looking at bubbles!

ummaya wrote:What about a digital scale ? I never use one (I don't have one) so I guess that even if use a digital thermometer and timer my brewing method still lacks precision.

EDITED: I guess that to be precise while using modern instruments you should use a thermometer,a timer and a scale. I read more about people using a thermometer and a timer and less about a scale (more about teaspoon and heaping teaspoon). I have no idea if their importance is equal.

I have an analogue thermometer, which I find useful when I'm new to a particular tea, to establish the basic parameters - how does it taste if I. . .? - but this tends to stay in the cupboard most of the time. I couldn't live with a digital readout, or a scale for that matter. Any timing is done on a handwind wristwatch which is older than me, but for longer timings I switch to an egg timer.

Perhaps it's laziness, but. . . I don't want to drink the same cup of tea every time. (I always brew it stronger on a cold day, for instance.) Repetition is death to me.